Episode Questions and Answers
Who is Al Richards?
Al Richards is a Utah recovery advocate, speaker, and podcaster, host of The Other Side of Addiction (AR The Other Side of Addiction on Facebook, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube) and co-founder of the Healing Utah Success Summit with Mallerie Jacobs. Al Richards spent 24 years in manufacturing before losing a job in 2009 to a dirty UA after eight years of hidden weekend cocaine use, and built the recovery work that followed.
What is The Other Side of Addiction?
The Other Side of Addiction is the podcast Al Richards launched almost five years ago to interview people who have battled addiction and rebuilt their lives. Al Richards has recorded 367 episodes and uses the show as a platform to normalize vulnerability, give other operators permission to share their stories, and connect listeners to recovery resources across Utah.
What is the Healing Utah Success Summit?
The Healing Utah Success Summit is the live event series Al Richards co-founded with Mallerie Jacobs to inspire, educate, and connect people on the recovery journey. Al Richards and Mallerie Jacobs held the 50th event on October 4, with speakers sharing stories of addiction, healing, and hope. Learn more at healingutahsuccesssummit.com.
How does Al Richards say recovery actually starts?
Al Richards tells Peter Anthony recovery starts with one real decision, not the first step, the decision to take the second step. Al Richards built sobriety on a single decision to become a better father, partner, and operator, then anchored it with fitness, the right community, and a willingness to sit in emotion instead of numbing it.
What does Al Richards mean by sitting in emotion?
Al Richards tells Peter Anthony men were taught to hold emotion in, pull up your big boy pants, do not cry. Al Richards names addiction as the band-aid for emotion the man refuses to feel. Sitting in emotion, without reaching for drugs, alcohol, porn, gambling, food, or work, is where the real strength lives and where the need to numb finally drops.
What is the buffalo metaphor Al Richards uses?
Al Richards uses the Native American buffalo story, the lead buffalo turns the herd into the storm because walking through the storm gets the herd to the other side faster than running from it. Al Richards tells Peter Anthony addiction is running from the storm, which is why the storm chases the operator forever. Healing is turning into it.
How do I reach Al Richards for help?
Al Richards tells Peter Anthony anyone struggling with addiction or thinking about suicide should email Al Richards at Mr.AlRichards@gmail.com to set up a phone conversation. Al Richards also points to two non-negotiables, connect with a higher power and find community, because the opposite of addiction is connection.
Episode Transcript
00:00 Losing The Job That Changed Everything
Al Richards opens with the moment that reset everything. Eight years of weekend cocaine and drinking ended by a single dirty UA in 2009. Al Richards had not been drug tested in 15 years and lost the manufacturing job in one phone call. Al Richards tells Peter Anthony the job loss was the best thing that ever happened to Al Richards because it forced the first honest look at who Al Richards had become. Peter Anthony welcomes the Utah Business Spotlight audience and frames the conversation around the Healing Utah Success Summit and the question every operator eventually has to answer, how do you start, grow, and scale a movement around healing.
02:01 The Decision To Become Someone New
Al Richards tells Peter Anthony the structural Utah operator clarity that arrived the day everything collapsed. Al Richards realized who Al Richards thought Al Richards was, Al Richards was not. Al Richards made the decision in that moment, better father, better partner, better friend, an operator with integrity, no more lying, no more manipulation. That single decision became the foundation for everything that followed, including the launch of The Other Side of Addiction podcast almost five years ago.
03:06 How The Other Side of Addiction Began
Al Richards tells Peter Anthony the podcast, The Other Side of Addiction, lives on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and on Facebook as AR The Other Side of Addiction. Al Richards explains how co-founder Mallerie Jacobs entered the story. Mallerie Jacobs was guest number six on the show, drove up from St. George, sat down in Al Richards' studio, and shared a story that turned into one of the most important friendships in Al Richards' recovery work.
03:50 Building The Healing Utah Success Summit
Al Richards tells Peter Anthony how the Healing Utah Success Summit was born. Mallerie Jacobs called Al Richards with an idea, a live event built around inspiring, educating, and giving people on the recovery journey a stage to share their story. Al Richards' eyes filled with tears because Al Richards had been thinking the exact same thing. The vision became HUSS, the Healing Utah Success Summit, built on vulnerability, hope, and the operators willing to stand on stage and tell the truth.
04:27 Peter Anthony On Nightlife, Cocaine, And A Hard Stop
Peter Anthony tells Al Richards Peter Anthony's own structural turn. Peter Anthony grew up Jehovah's Witness, learned to DJ in college, and ended up running the biggest nightclubs in New York City, open until 4 a.m. with famous handlers walking in piles of cocaine. Peter Anthony's grandmother told Peter Anthony God has a bigger plan. Peter Anthony stopped doing drugs at 21 or 22 and never used again. Peter Anthony names the structural Utah operator rule, when the leader at the top of the room stops, the room is forced to confront itself.
06:03 The Cost Of Hiding Addiction In Plain Sight
Al Richards tells Peter Anthony the wife Al Richards eventually married had no clue Al Richards was snorting cocaine for the three years they dated. Al Richards lost the job a month and a half after the wedding and had to put the tail between the legs and tell her why. Coworkers Al Richards loved suddenly treated Al Richards like the plague. Al Richards names the structural Utah operator cost of hiding, the longer the secret, the bigger the collapse, and the lonelier the rebuild.
06:57 Why Change Starts With One Real Decision
Al Richards tells Peter Anthony the structural rule for any operator stuck in a pattern. The journey of a thousand miles does not start with the first step, it starts with the decision to make the second step. Al Richards could not articulate why the decision came that day, only that it was the best decision Al Richards ever made. Peter Anthony names the structural Utah operator implication, without the decision, the steps never compound.
08:00 Fitness, Clarity, And The First Way Forward
Al Richards tells Peter Anthony fitness was the only direction Al Richards knew. 198 pounds, double chin, could not see the toes. Al Richards got back into the gym, dropped the weight, and the head started clearing. Off the alcohol and off the cocaine, the right people started showing up, one chess piece at a time. Al Richards names the structural Utah operator pattern, clarity is what attracts the next right person into the operator's life.
09:12 Addiction, Marriage, And The Lies People Justify
Al Richards tells Peter Anthony Al Richards' past wife eventually fell into alcoholism after Al Richards lost the job and the house. Al Richards still did not see Al Richards as an addict, five days clean out of seven, Al Richards could justify the two. Al Richards names the structural Utah operator lie, every addict justifies the use until the use justifies the collapse. Al Richards hid the past wife's alcoholism from family, friends, everyone, until a single conversation with a friend cracked the silence open.
10:21 Why Sharing The Story Changes Everything
Peter Anthony tells Al Richards the structural Utah operator distinction, the personal hero journey stays personal, but the decision, the action, the focus, and the willingness to ask for help is the universal pattern that gives other operators permission. Peter Anthony walks through the structural reality, some people stop in a day, some need 90 days of rehab, some need two years of weaning off the lifestyle, not just the substance. Al Richards agrees, the friends who do what the operator no longer does have to go, and that is its own grief.
15:14 Men, Shame, And The Fear Of Looking Weak
Peter Anthony names the structural Utah operator pattern men carry, addiction gets framed as weakness, so the man hides the addiction to protect the image. Al Richards tells Peter Anthony the deeper truth, addiction is the band-aid for the wound, usually formed around age 11 to 13. Some kind of trauma the boy could not name. Al Richards names the cultural failure, boys were taught do not cry or I will give you something to cry about. The emotion got buried, and the substance arrived to keep it buried.
17:27 Sitting In Emotion Instead Of Numbing It
Al Richards tells Peter Anthony the structural Utah operator turning point, when a man learns to sit in the emotion instead of reaching for drugs, alcohol, porn, gambling, food, or work, the need to numb finally drops. Al Richards shares the first talk Al Richards ever gave at a Murray Chamber luncheon, Al Richards balling on stage, audience members handing up napkins, and Al Richards apologizing for crying. A friend asked Al Richards where Al Richards got the idea men should not cry. Al Richards' wife told Al Richards she finds Al Richards sexy when Al Richards cries, and Al Richards has cried at every talk since.
19:15 The Buffalo Metaphor And Walking Into The Storm
Al Richards tells Peter Anthony the Native American buffalo metaphor that anchors the recovery work. The lead buffalo turns the herd into the storm because walking through the storm gets the herd to the other side faster than running from it. Addiction is running from the storm, which is why the storm chases the operator forever. Healing is turning into the storm. Peter Anthony commits Al Richards to writing the next book, Into The Storm.
22:11 What To Do First If You Need Help Now
Al Richards gives Peter Anthony the three structural Utah operator steps for anyone in crisis. Step one, reach out. Email Al Richards at Mr.AlRichards@gmail.com to set up a phone call. Step two, connect to a higher power, whatever that is for the operator. Step three, find community, because the opposite of addiction is connection, and the people who have walked the same road are the only ones who truly understand the war happening inside the operator's head. Peter Anthony closes the episode, like, subscribe, share. Utah Business Spotlight is produced by The INCubator AI Marketing Agency and filmed in Sandy, Utah.
